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Friday, February 4, 2011

TAKE A CHANCE E-BOOKS!

TAKE A CHANCE E-BOOKS!

AN ONGOING SERIES HIGHLIGHTING POSSIBLY DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH E-BOOKS BY RELATIVELY UNKNOWN AUTHORS, FOUND WHILE CRUISING THE E-BOOK SHELVES ON AMAZON WITH PRICES THAT MAKE THEM WORTH TAKING A CHANCE ON . . . SOME MAY BE CRAP, SOME COULD SHOW POTENTIAL, OTHERS (I SUSPECT VERY, VERY, FEW) MIGHT BE GREAT – TAKE A CHANCE . . .

TODAY’S FIND . . . CRIME!

DIRTY OLD TOWN ~ $.99

NIGEL BIRD

Dirty Old Town is the debut collection from the prize-winning writer Nigel Bird. His brilliantly observed slices of life allow us to visit places we may not normally choose to enter and to walk a few miles in the shoes of others.

Though his tales have darkness at their core, they are also full of a heart and spirit that one rarely finds in the world or ‘noir’ or ‘crime-writing’.

There are 8 stories here: Drinking Wine (Spo-Dee-Oh-Dee); Dirty Old Town; Sea Minor; Sisterhood; One Hundred And Ten Per Cent; Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight); Three Little Birds; and Silver Street. Each of them will remain with you for days after you’ve read them. Others will be around for weeks.

In this collection we meet a frustrated housewife who needs to let her hair down; a elderly school janitor who can’t see the wood for the trees; a group of Muslims intent on revenge; a young girl whose father has just left home; a father and son breaking and entering partnership; a young man working on a city farm; and a pimp who’s fallen in love. All of them struggle to meet life’s demands and some of them cope better than others.

Five of the stories here have been published by the highly respected editors of The Reader Magazine, A Twist Of Noir, Beat To A Pulp, Title Fights, Static Movement and Dark Valentine. It also includes two pieces that are being given their first outing and another that was put together for Donna Moore’s Ramones online series.

In 2010 Nigel Bird was the winner of the prestigious Watery Grave Invitational competition hosted by the Drowning Machine. Since then he has gone on to with the Things I’d Rather Be Doing fairytale/crime-story competition.

The story ‘Taking A Line For A Walk’, included here, was listed among the top 5 stories of 2010 by Bill Hayes and Naomi Johnson over at Death By Killing.

and Paul, i'm running a self-interview series over at my blog http://nigelpbird.blogspot.com. it would be an honour for you to interview yourself for me and send it in - nigel.bird7@btinternet.com Larry Block has done one and it's wonderful to have such an outstanding gentleman on-board. you're invited to join him, certainly. let me know. thanks again.